Planning Tips to Achieve Your Dream Life
Life goes by fast when you’re a mom. Make the best use of your time with these planning tips to help you get more done in less time so you can achieve the life you dream of for you and your family.Â
With an extensive to-do list and a chronic illness, it’s easy for me to get overwhelmed by all I want to get done. In the past few years, I’ve found that investing the time to document my goals and plan my days has helped me increase my productivity and start achieving the life I’ve dreamed of.
I’ll admit I’m a planner junkie. I can’t function without my planner. Between brain fog from Rheumatoid Arthritis, 3 kids schedules to juggle and a mind that races all day long with ideas for my family, home and blog, I rely on my planners and bullet journals to corral the chaos so I can get things done.
Here are some of my favorite planning tips, resources and articles I’ve written to help you on your journey to achieving your dream life too.
What are your goals? What does your dream life look like? What is your biggest struggle in achieving your goals? What has been your biggest accomplishment so far? Tell me how I can help you on your journey to achieve your dream life.
Goal Planning Tips
8 Things You Need to Know to Crush Your Goals + FREE Goalsetting Workbook
What Powers Your Happy? + 3 Ways to Find YOUR Passion in Life (Besides Your Family)
How to Use 90 Day Challenges to Crush Your Goals by Smart Mom, Smart Ideas
My Powersheets 2020 Goals and How Powersheets Changed My Life in 2019
Life Planning Tips
5 Tips to Declutter Your Home and Mind
7 Easy Ways to Declutter Your Mind by Organized Motherhood
How to Use Time Tracking and Color Coding to Boost Your Productivity in Less than 15 Minutes a Week (featuring the Passion Planner)
Time Tracking and Color Coding in the Simplified Planner
5 Simple Steps to Mastering Work-Life Balance
5 Things You Can Do to Get Organized Today by Organized Motherhood
How to Plan Your Day to Get Things Done by Smart Mom, Smart Ideas
How to Stop Procrastinating and Get Things Done by Smart Mom, Smart Ideas
My Favorite Planning Tools
I’m currently using Powersheets intentional goal planner to cultivate and pinpoint the goals most important to me in this season of life. The Powersheets helps me identify my goals, turn them into an action plan to get it done and encourages me to fit them into my current commitments so I don’t lose sight of them.
Once the action plan is identified, I schedule my tasks to get it done into my Daily Simplified Planner. This is a winning combination, both products encourage and inspire me to focus what really matters in my life, give myself grace when things don’t go perfectly, to make progress little by little and to cherish the journey.
More Life and Goal Planner Reviews
Ultimate Planner Comparison – comparison of 28 of the most popular planners on the market and a FREE comparison chart to download to help you choose your perfect planner for your lifestyle and budget
The Best Planner Reviews to Help You Get More Done in Less Time (all my reviews that are done and coming soon)
Note: This post contains affiliate links as indicated by an asterisk. Purchases from these links provides a small commission to me at no extra cost to you.
Planning & Motivational Resources
Getting Things Done – the Art of Stress-Free Productivity* by David Allen – a thorough and comprehensive system for capturing all your ideas so you can make progress on your projects and goals.
Time Power: A Proven System for Getting More Done in Less Time Than You Ever Thought Possible* by Brian Tracy – I like the action exercises at the end of the chapters to put into place the concepts he describes (FREE with Audible Trial)
7 Habits of Highly Effective People* by Dr. Stephen Covey – a life-changing book to help you deal with determining your goals, roles and how to deal with difficult situations and people (FREE with Audible Trial). Read my full review of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People here.
You Are a Badass: How to Start Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life* by Jen Sincero – a humorous and inspiring book to help you see the awesomeness that you are (FREE with Audible Trial)
Say Goodbye to Survival Mode: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More and Restore Your Passion for Life* by Crystal Paine (blogger at Money Saving Mom) – a must read for overwhelmed moms to stop stressing and be more intentional with your time and talent (FREE with Audible Trial). Read my full review of Say Goodbye to Survival Mode here.
Grace Not Perfection* by Emily Ley – a wonderful reminder to give ourselves grace in our busy lives and to shift our mindset to embrace the life we’ve been given rather than the relentless pursuit of unattainable perfection
Cultivate* by Lara Casey – an inspiring book encouraging us to cherish the season we’re in, from starting new and exciting projects to the messy middle while we work through our problems, it’s all part of the growing process as we cultivate the life we want.
Blog Planning Tips
Ultimate Free Blog Planner You Need to Build a Successful Blog
Achieving your dream life takes planning, finding resources that keep you motivated along your journey and reviewing your goals to make sure you are still on track. You might think your dream life is beyond your reach but breaking down your goals into manageable pieces and celebrating your small victories along the way will help you see that your dream life is within your reach, it just takes hard work, dedication and a clear vision. I’ll be updating this page with more articles to help you along the way, so I hope you’ll check back with me and tell me how I can help you on your goals.
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Thank you for this! I’ve been looking for a great blog planner!
You have compiled some great looking resources for life planning and tips for life dream achievements. Thanks for sharing this post with us at #OMHGWW.
I was never curious about productivity and planning until I started blogging! It adds joy – but it also adds many things “to do” as well. I have never read Steven Covey’s 7 Habits and I’m going to go put that on my library list now!
I forgot to mention that I LOVE your new look on your blog – so clean & beautiful. I am so impressed by all that you’ve done with your blog this past year & how you keep learning new things and applying them – I had an objective last year to update my blogs & never found the time – they are pretty much the same as when I started them 10 years ago!! gulp
One specific question (in addition to how do you DO it all??) – your photos are gorgeous – do you take them yourself? Some – like the planner one here – are personal so it seems that you are taking them yourself, but they are also so beautiful and professional-looking! I just love the look and would love to know your secret 🙂
Sue
No, I did not take the photo in the main images myself (it’s on my bucket list to take such gorgeous photos). i bought a pack of stock photos from the incredibly talented Twigy Posts on Creative Market. It was perfect because it was a seaside pack that totally matched the color scheme and vibe I was going for. i just import the photo into PicMonkey and add the text as usual. I actually updated my blogging tips page yesterday for info about the theme and places where I get stock photos (you can get some for free by subscribing to their newsletters too which I totally recommend). Here’s the link if you want to check it out. https://momssmallvictories.com/blogging-tips-and-tricks-to-take-your-blog-to-the-next-level/
Btw, thank you for the compliments,i have been working hard to make my blog a calming and inspiring place to visit. I’m an open book, I have no problem sharing my tips and lessons learned with you. 🙂
Great post, Tanya (you can see how far behind I am on everything by how long it took me to read this one!). Like you, I am a planning junkie and just finished my start-of-the-year process – revisiting my lifetime goals and setting objectives & measurable targets for this year. Here’s an article I recently wrote for ProHealth on my process (and how it applies when you are chronically ill):
http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=29822
As you know, I am also a big Covey fan and love that you described 7 Habits as life-changing. It was for me, too, when I read it about 25 years ago!
With all my planning, I am still feeling overwhelmed (and am still perpetually behind!). I will take a look at the resources you included here…though I suspect my main problem is simply that I am trying to do too much!
Thanks for the food for thought – happy new year!
Sue
Great article Sue, I am still in the process of getting my 2017 goals onto paper and the complete capture list of all the ideas floating around my head. I just said that the other day too, in spite of my planner addiction, I am always behind too and often overwhelmed. I think I take on too much too. I used your index card idea to jot down my individual project ideas and monthly goals. I really need to stick to completing the card versus getting distracted by everything else that pops in my head.
WOW! For a fellow planner like me this dream post is just that, a dream! Thanks for sharing all of these resources. I’m definitely going to be researching them ALL! (come visit me, would love to see you there when I post about dreams later on today!)